Year B

John 17:6-19

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Easter Truth Is Salvation

This final Sunday in the Easter Season gives us an opportunity to bring to conclusion the many promises of the resurrection. The disciples in the stories after the resurrection have gone from frightened silence before the empty tomb to having their hearts burn as Jesus explains the Scriptures to them, to receiving forgiveness and the power to forgive others, and finally to a commission to witness to what they have experienced “to the ends of the earth.”  Resurrection is no longer an abstract concept, but something experienced through the healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation brought about by the resurrection causing the disciples to move from confusion to boldness and forthright witness after Pentecost.

But right now, today, we are in the time between Ascension and Pentecost when the Holy Spirit will come and empower them for ministry. This past Thursday, the church celebrated Jesus’ ascension back to the Father. The disciples are now on their own and the ministry of the church in the world will soon begin. Yet, can you imagine the concern of the disciples after the ascension when they realized they were without their leader? His presence for three years gave them guidance, support and courage. If there were problems or needs, they knew to whom to go and they always had their needs met and questions answered but now the disciples were alone to face a hostile world. Can they get along without Jesus? Can they carry on Jesus’ mission and ministry “to the ends of the earth” without his physical presence?

The texts today all affirm, as they will next Sunday on Pentecost Sunday, that the church can get along without the physical Jesus and the texts today help us to see how the church prepares for this and it’s ministry, the work of carrying on the ministry of Jesus, one of preaching, teaching and healing. What we find is that the church can carry on because it has Jesus’ prayers, is guided by the ascended Lord through the Holy Spirit and is assured of eternal life in Christ. The disciples living between Jesus’ departure and the coming of the Spirit began to realize that the time had come to gear up and get right down to business to begin their mission of witness and mercy in the world.

So we read in the lesson from Acts today, their first real administrative decision after Jesus returned to God, involved selecting a replacement for Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus. Before the church can begin her ministry, the vacancy needs to be filled. The one to be chosen as a replacement is to be someone who shared the experience with Jesus from the time of his baptism to his ascension and one who can witness to the resurrection. Both Justus and Matthias must have been true seekers whose quest had probably led them to John the Baptist and then to Jesus. After prayer, Matthias was chosen to be one of the apostles. The church’s leadership ranks were now filled and ready for the Spirit’s coming.

Yet, before the new church goes out into the world, she needs to be assured that Jesus is the Son of God whom to know is eternal life. How can we be sure that Jesus is the Christ so we can lead others into this truth? The text from 1 John today focuses on the importance of credibility. Our human experience teaches us that not all persons may be trusted therefore, an important issue for the early church becomes the criteria by which we decide which words are and which are not true. In the case of Jesus, this matter is of the utmost urgency since the claims made by him as well as the claims made about him are intended to bring about the most important decisions a person makes.

The writer of 1 John sums it up near the end of his letter, and it couldn’t be more clear. He says, have faith in God’s testimony in the person of Jesus. And that testimony is that “God gave us eternal life through Jesus, his Son.” To have this son is to have life. The whole letter was written so the reader could be certain that they will have eternal life through Jesus. The prime witness is God who testifies that Jesus is God’s Son, the source of eternal life and to not accept God’s witness is to make God a liar. It is very appropriate that this text appears today because the resurrection is the ultimate “proof” that Jesus Christ was sent by God for our salvation, a truth that is confirmed by the Holy Spirit.  

This is good news that God puts within the hearts of God’s people in such a way that allows us to proclaim this truth which intertwines our human testimony with that of God. God gives a community of disciples to Jesus and entrusts them with his word and Jesus is very aware that those who know the truth about God could be in for a hard time-which they all were; almost all the disciples were martyred for their faith. Thus, Jesus prays for his followers. In this final prayer of Jesus in the gospel text today, just prior to his betrayal and arrest, prays not that they should be taken out of the world as he is about to do, but that they should go into the world in joy, for they are to be a sign of God’s love.

He prays for their protection from the attacks of the evil one and that they will be made holy, as he is holy. To be holy is to be different from “the world,” though not separate from it. The disciples’ mission is to the world, for without their witness, how can it come to believe? Jesus then prays for those who refuse to believe that they will come to believe through the disciples’ witness and he prays that they would remain united in their witness to the truth of God’s love for the world. Just as he was sent into the world, he sends them into the world for the same purpose he was sent. God longs for us; for everyone to come to know the love of God through Jesus.

Every time we witness and celebrate God’s love as revealed to us in the face of Christ, we touch at the heart of our faith: God never abandons us, never lets us go, never lets the world go, but seeks to reclaim it through the power of love. As we go into the world with God’s love we can be assured that Jesus’ prayer is for us that we will be protected and united in our mission, one with the risen Jesus. William Barclay writes about this passage: “Jesus had two things—he had belief in God and belief in people. He trusted God and he trusted people. It is one of the most uplifting things in the world to think that Jesus put his trust and confidence in people like you and me.” To believe this is to open up life for us and others to its fullest.

So as Pentecost approaches, what have we learned as Easter people? We have learned that Christ is alive, the tomb is empty. Yet, it’s ok to have doubts like Thomas. We can work through them to believe and be changed because we serve a risen shepherd who cares for us as a good shepherd cares for his sheep and who has chosen us to be “Friends of God.” We can be like Philip, taking the Easter Gospel out into the world and living it out by loving each other. For it is through our unity with God and one another that the world will know that Jesus is the one sent by God.

The way we must go as Easter people, is all spelled out for us. It is the way of loving unity with the One who is never absent from our lives as long as we are caught up in that divine love in company with and service to one another, our faces turned always toward the glory that is ours as the beloved children of God. The new age of the risen Jesus with us in the Spirit has begun. Jesus’ prayer of love assures us of this and sends us out as witnesses of this eternal truth to the ends of the earth.